Plays enacts Allenheads miners' journey

Posted by The Journal on Jul 10, 08 11:11 AM in What's On

The lead mining industry has left its imprint on the North Pennines landscape.

But beyond the physical remains are the stories of the mining families, many of whom were forced to emigrate as the industry changed and went into decline.

Strike!: Rachel Clarke, left, and Emma Boor rehearse for the play in Allenheads

Rachel Clarke, who lives in Stanhope in Weardale, has not only studied the exodus of these workers but has followed in their footsteps.

She won a three-month artist's residency in the Klondike, in the Canadian Yukon, where she researched the story of a North Pennines miner called Klondike Wilkinson.

John Wilkinson was born in Weardale and is thought to have worked at Bollihope before emigrating to America.

He worked his way via coal mines to Vancouver and then became one of the first to pan for gold in the Klondike.

It paid off. He made enough to buy property and return to Weardale, where he is buried at St John's Chapel.

Specific incidents could trigger migration and that was the case after a strike by lead miners in Allenheads, Northumberland, in 1849.

It lasted from January 1 to May 3, when the strike was broken. Many miners walked to Liverpool and boarded ships to America.

Today, in the centre of Allenheads, Rachel will stage "Strike!", involving 30 pupils from Allendale Middle School.

The promenade show will portray the 1849 mining strike and the migration which followed, with the performance starting at 1.30pm.

Over the following two days the pupils will make a short film on the subject which will be shown at the school on July 17.

The performance and the animation workshops have been commissioned by the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership.

Rachel, 32, a contemporary arts graduate, set up digital arts company Twisted Digits a year ago, specialising in film-making, animation and performance, usually on heritage or environmental themes.

Previous projects have included a climate change venture with youngsters and Natural England at the Moorhouse-Upper Teesdale national nature reserve.

Rachel said: "Migration from the North Pennines in the 19th Century was highly significant. A lot of people really had no choice.

"Away from the east coast, America was no Disneyland. The migrants were, in a sense, real pioneers and often had to build their communities from scratch.

"It wasn't a case of hopping on a plane. They were venturing into the unknown and it was hard and dangerous.

"Today, when we are so mobile and have the internet, it is difficult to understand that most of these people would never see their families again.

"The project will give the students an idea of some of the issues emigrants faced at that time.

"Allenheads village is a great place to do a performance like this, with places like the heritage centre and the Old School, now Allenheads Contemporary Arts, providing such fantastic backdrops."

Rachel stayed in the Klondike during the winter, when there are two hours of light a day and the population drops from 2,000 to 1,200.

She said: "The Klondike is in its own little time warp and there is still gold panning.

"The community is culturally very diverse and the landscape is vast, with the huge river freezing up in winter and moose, bear and porcupine are still around.

"But the landscape is also gnarled from mining, like the North Pennines, and the people I
met with their interesting stories reminded me of North Pennines characters."

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